Android 2.1 On 45% Of Devices Visiting the Android Market

Last month we saw how the devices accessing the Android Market were split between the Android OS versions, and the upcoming release of Sprint's Android 2.1 updates had us thinking that we would see Android 2.1's share increase in May. Android 2.1's 32.4% share increased to a 45.1% share in this past month, which at first seems like carriers and manufacturers are making good progress in updating their handsets, but that is not the whole story.

It's not that simple because you also have to factor in all the Android 2.1 handsets that have been sold this month, which is altering the total userbase. We were right that Android 2.1 would increase (thanks to HTC Droid Eris and Sprint's Hero), but we are still waiting on all the rest of the HTC Hero owners to receive the update as well.

As for those Nexus One owners running FroYo, Phandroid mentions (and I agree) that the "number is probably either negligible or not counted among the official releases."

As for seeing Android 1.5's large share of the market decrease, EuroDroid puts their hopes on the update for the HTC Hero to finally receive the Android 2.1 by saying:

Hang in there, you rest-of-the-world HTC Hero owners and your 1.5 machines. Your moment will come soon – after all, HTC said the Hero update would arrive in June, and there are 29 days of June left.

Oh yes, we are counting.

The research for these figures was done over a period of two weeks ending yesterday.